To remedy this, I was hoping that a draft could set a variable like draft to true, and I could wrap the universal code in a conditional {% unless page.draft %}.

Other solutions revolve around including enable_disqus: true in _config.yml, and then:

Allowing allowing you to override overriding this option through a command line flag.

Allowing specifying multiple configuration files, like --config=_config.yml,_local_config.yml. The file named _local_config.yml could contain the single line enable_disqus: false, overriding enable_disqus: true in _config.yml.

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And to expand on the previous comment, by specifying in a separate config
file that you're in development mode through a YAML variable, and using
that new config file when you work locally, you could avoid creating the
Disqus discussion entirely until you publish the site.

And to expand on the previous comment, by specifying in a separate config
file that you're in development mode through a YAML variable, and using
that new config file when you work locally, you could avoid creating the
Disqus discussion entirely until you publish the site.

This comment has been minimized.

Thanks! I had no idea that multiple configuration files, separated by commas, were supported already. That renders this issue moot. If it sounds good, tonight I'll make a pull request to clarify this in the docs, since I don't think "Specify a config file. Overrides settings in _config.yml" makes it immediately clear.

Thanks! I had no idea that multiple configuration files, separated by commas, were supported already. That renders this issue moot. If it sounds good, tonight I'll make a pull request to clarify this in the docs, since I don't think "Specify a config file. Overrides settings in _config.yml" makes it immediately clear.